The Red Line
The Red Line is an area of the metro that is currently lead by General Secretary Comrade Maxim Moskvin of the Communist Party of the Moscow Metropolitan; in short, Secretary Moskvin. The Communists (also commonly referred to as "The Reds") are a Far Left faction within the Metro Series, at war with the Fourth Reich. They are characterized by their large population and military, as well as their neutrality to most other Metro factions despite their underlying hostile demeanor. They are currently in a war with the Reich. Overview Primarily making up Red Village (Krasnoselskaya), Red Gates (Krasnye Vorota), Komsomolskaya, Lenin Library (Biblioteka im. Lenina), the stations on the Red Line officially re-endorse communism and the socialist type of government used by the USSR - neighboring stations did so in rapid succession while some of them overthrew their own governments. A trait among the Red Line is that while they are normally neutral and aren't usually know for armed expansionism, they often attempt to gain control of nearby stations by either gradually exerting their influence upon the current government or backing the overthrow of it in favor of a pro-Communist government - either way they will eventually integrate the station into the Red Line and regard them as a "free" station. At first the people on red line created a committee which was responsible for dispersing propaganda of revolution and communism in the whole Metro, with the almost Leninist name of "Interstational". After a while the line was officially renamed to Red Line, which had already been its nickname before the war. Following many conflicts over territory, the Red Line actively began trading consumer goods with Hansa. It has begun the electrification of tunnels, but there have been issues of famine in Communist stations, usually when a station is just beginning to use the Socialist mode of production as it's just being incorporated into the Red Line. Although their territorial possessions allow Red Line to produce a large amount of food and weaponry, its conflicts with the Nazis have drained these resources massively. The Red Line is very much a state which operates on centralized policy. And it exhibits many of the characteristics of it's father state in the Soviet Union, specifically during the late 20's and early 30's - individuals are alleged to frequently sell out their own neighbors as mentioned by Khan, supposedly for rewards of food. Well-armed soldiers patrol each station under communist control to maintain law and order and defend from outside forces, while conscripted recruits are used for war fighting at the front. In it's quest for rooting out spies and enemies, the Red Line government has become a bit heavy handed with it's use of revolutionary law. Especially during this period with the war against the Nazis. "Counter-Revolutionary" (A broad category ranging from sabotage to propaganda distribution). As well as regular criminals of man stripes are often sent to Lubyanka station located underneath the old KGB (Soviet Union's secret police) headquarters, which is used as a political prison by the communists for citizens who break the law or attempt to discredit Socialist leadership. During these years of war, scarce resources are afforded to prison inmates. Especially those guilty or accused of crimes hostile to Socialist construction. So death through over-work, starvation or health concerns can grow relatively high in any given war year. However, it is believed by many citizens that those arrested are genuine enemies of the people of some form. And many who are arrested for petty or moderate non counter-revolutionary crimes are let go. Either to serve in the army, or return to the production front. Ideology The Red Line's society, as noted by Pavel Morozov, follows a very strict mindset. One leader, one Party, and one ideology. He mentions order and control being more important than individual freedoms. This is to make sure their beliefs withstand. The Communists believe that everything that comes out of the Red Line is to be shared equally with everyone; if one person has four bullets and the other has none, they divide it between themselves. This rough collectivist mentality is a direct result of the hard political times affecting the Red Line, and the hard times as a whole of a society building in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Collectivist policy implementation, the struggle against internal enemies during Socialist construction, and the war against the Nazis have all had a direct effect in shaping the rugged mindset of the Red Line and it's citizenry. The Communists As society broke down during the post-apocalypse, the Reds saw that the Socialist construction path taken b the Soviet Union as a good template for surviving in a resource scarce wasteland. After having overthrown the local governments and the propertied classes that rules them, the party members went about establishing the dictatorship of the proletariat, a very strict worker's state that enforces the class rule of the toilers on everyone. The key idea of communism, or rather socialism is that the means of production are socially owned by the toilers through the state apparatus. The society (the state) runs these means of production via a planned economy and de-privitazation of the means through which society produces it's essentials, goods and services. There are various Communist that can be heard admiring socialist leaders and organizers from before the war, such as Vladimir Lenin, Karl Marx, and Che Guevara. When Artyom is captured by Nazis at the front-line, when they assume that he is a Red spy, they mock him asking him to pray to Marx as some sort of God. Government The government structure and policy of the Red Line can be seen as a combination of "War Communism" during the Civil war period in Russia's history, and of Socialist construction as occurred through the 30's 40's and 50's. Essentially, the Supreme Soviet (A council of party members who function in much the same way a republic's elected officials.) mandates certain quotas of production for the individual factories and food production industries. Who's local soviets (groups of workers and directors.) then decide on how best to carry out those quotas. Ownership of means of production is illegal, and those classes which formerly owned them (During the initial socialization of the economy and before) are watched very closely by the party and the state apparatus. All in the state are in theory, workers of some kind, be they statesman or farmer. Law also requires that local party leaders and members take part in production themselves, in order to keep perspective on who the government is in theory supposed to serve. The state apparatus itself rules through the Leninist principle of Democratic Centralism, which can be roughly summed up as "freedom of discussion, unity in action". The Soviets, from the supreme down to a local level. Debate and vote among themselves about a particular issue, and then, once the vote is cast and the majority wins. The rule is expected to be carried out by all members of the party, even those who disagreed with the policy itself. How the state sees itself also has a huge impact on it's function. In this case, as the represented of a certain class or classes, the Proletariat (workers) and the toilers of all kinds. With this class understanding in mind. the Red Line carries out policies which are hostile to those who it sees as against the interest of the worker's, or those who are believed to work in conjunction with the former ruling classes. This could be described as a process of "Red Terror" through which the party often rids itself of those it believes to be spies, wreckers or class enemies. Though it would at first seem as though this would leave most people in a constant state of fear, there is no proof that this is the case in the Red Line. Most people seem to acknowledge a real threat of internal enemies to some degree. And the majority of those affected by this "Red Terror" are high ranking part members and paper pushing officials, who the common mass does not see as having very much in common with them. To a certain extent, the "Red Terror" policy style also allows for an amount of grass roots democracy, with workers able to denounce party members and bosses who administrate their factories and work places if they believe them to be working in a poor or un-Communist way. Red Army Concept art of a communist officer. Strength When comparing the Communists' military to the Nazis', the Red Army is much larger in size due to the Red Line having a much higher population to conscript from. Because of this, they also have lower standards towards the combat capability of their troops. They therefore have the manpower to launch costly human wave attacks against the Nazi defenses without so much as a second thought. Internal politics of Communist controlled stations is focused upon recruitment, aimed at enticing as many citizens to join up as possible. The methods of how soldiers are recruited and criteria to be considered suitable for combat are never explained, however it can be assumed that while they are not forced to be soldiers, all able-bodied males are pressured into signing up for the pay it provides, and perhaps a certain amount of prestige or privilege to veterans at home. Units The Red Army, like other factions, contains different units that have different specialties. The largest wing is what the Red Army is known for; its infantry. Its general army is the largest one of all metro factions. It is mentioned in Sparta that the Red Army is fifteen thousand strong. While its infantry size is impressive, the Faction Pack reveals that the Red Army also has a skilled Sniper Team and puts you in control of a Red Line Sniper. The Red Line also contains a number of double agents and spies which are commanded by head of intelligence General Korbut. Some spies such as Lesnitsky have infiltrated powerful factions such as the Rangers. Equipment Frontline soldiers of the Red Army are poorly trained and equipped recruits, usually being armed only with a Bastard carbine, and a single magazine (which is also their conscription payment) and an non-protective cloth uniform. This is because these soldiers are used as cannon fodder by their commanders as a human wall for protecting emplacements, often being mowed down by the more superior Nazi soldiers. Despite this, several Communist soldiers can be seen wearing professional combat armor and metal helmets as well as being armed with Kalashes, some also featuring Night Vision Goggles. These soldiers can be seen in the levels "Armory" acting as security forces and "Frontline" just hanging around, either talking to other soldiers or patrolling - judging by the fact that these well-armed soldiers are always a distance away from the front-line, it could be assumed that they are either officers/squad commanders or most likely elite units either on par with Nazi soldiers or even better to be sent to battle when conscripts are not effective or low in numbers. In Metro: Last Light the earliest encountered troops are similar to the first game with the exception being that the AK-74 is much more commonly used by them, but soon after many of the Reds Artyom encounters have significantly better equipment than in the previous game. Their weapons often have attachments such as laser sights and optics, have a high number of Heavy Armored Suits plus a considerable number of soldiers with CBRN suits in areas where they have deployed biological weapons. In the latter half of the game, the teams sent to kill Artyom have gear that is similar to those used by the Rangers which includes nearly identical body armor and heavily modified high level weaponry (though these may be the equivalent to Spetsnaz type units with access to equipment that the rest of the Red Army doesn't have). In the assault on D6 and on the Frontline they even employ soldiers with Ballistic Shields, flamethrowers, a Gatling, improvised "Tanks" (like Panzers used by Nazis), and an armored train to back up their offensive. Attitude While Artyom is hidden in the storage compartment of the railcar carrying newly recruited conscripts on the way to the front line, the Communist soldiers can be heard explaining why they joined the Red Army. While one claims he joined because he genuinely believes in Communism, another explains participation in the Red Army is a family tradition while a third less enthusiastic soldier claims he is purely in it for the money. The lack of morale and enthusiasm by some Red Army soldiers is once shown again during a rallying speech by a commissar, where they do not participate in singing the Soviet Union's national anthem, and one of the soldiers making pessimistic statements about dying before he can spend his conscription payment. The Red Line's officers seem to maintain a very high discipline standard as they will apparently execute a person for 'desertion' even if they were attempting to do something that would benefit the Red's cause, as seen by a soldier pleading for his life executed on behalf of a "Revolutionary Tribunal" by his officer after returning from discovering a hidden passage leading behind the Nazi defenses. Whether this is common practice, or specific to some officers, it is unsure. Alliance In the novel the Red Army also has an alliance with the Revolutionaries, who attack the Nazis sporadically to reduce their numbers and force them to take troops away from the front (in the book this is not precisely said, but the revolutionaries' leader says that the Red Line's communism is not real communism, something of a reference to some modern communist groups regarding the Soviet Union). In game the Red Line has no solid allies, before the evens in Last Light they had a fragile alliance with Hansa and Ranger, while the Nazis are hostile with those factions. Trivia * The only person to ever specifically mention the Soviet Union is Miller while inside D6 when talking about the technology, referring to it as merely "Soviet". When activating the emergency lights however, he says that the situation reminds him of "old Hollywood movies about Soviet Union". * During the mission Frontline, you'll be able to save three communist soldiers from being executed by Nazi soldiers. This will also garner you an achievement and moral points. * Red soldiers apparently have a method to destroy the Nazis' Panzers, but it is never seen in-game. However, a burning Panzer is seen in the middle of the level Frontline, halfway between the Nazi and Communist positions. * New recruits are paid a fully loaded magazine upon joining the Red Army, but are expected to be an "honorable soldier" and use it on the enemy. This is probably because they have a low survival rate due to their poor training, and also possibly because the communist government looks down on the use of currency. * If you listen to some of the conversations between communist soldiers at the Armory, you'll hear someone mention how there was once a war between the Russians and the Nazis in the past, and that they won. This is of course in reference to World War II, however, since the world is in a post-apocalyptic state, it is speculated that World War II's history may have been lost and only a few know any true detail about it, and even then the truth may be skewed by Red and Nazi propaganda. * The war between the Fourth Reich and the Red Line is an allusion to the conflict of the Eastern Front in World War II. The equipment and strategy used is historically suggestive. For example, the communist Red Line uses poorly trained, mostly conscript forces that are high in numbers to rush enemy positions while the Nazis of the Reich use an army of well trained and equipped professional soldiers, though their overall forces are fewer in number. * At the beginning of the mission "Frontline", a commissar can be heard using communist propaganda (speech and patriotic song) in an attempt to rally the newly transported conscripts - similar to tactics commissars of the Red Army used before and during battles of World War II to boost morale during assaults or charges. * According to dialogue between conscripts, one claims that his father and grandfather fought in the Red Army. As life in the Metro has only existed for 20 years and the Red Line's army even less, it is possible the conscript's grandfather may have served in the original Red Army of the Soviet Union in the past, maybe even during World War II. *According to some dialogue between several rangers, there are about 15,000 people living in the Red Line. *The Red Line and the Fourth Reich are the only two factions to possess tanks, also the Red Army is the sole Armored Train user in the Metro games. *The Red Line most likely uses the Russian version of the Internationale as a national anthem. The commissar in the beginning of Frontline and Pavel defiantly sings it while being tortured by the Nazis. *In Metro: Last Light at the start of the game, Artyom is lead to believe that the Reds are allies and that the Nazis are the primary antagonists, but once Pavel betrays Artyom, the Reds are discovered to be the primary antagonists